South Brook Farm, also known as the Charles A. Higgins Estate and New Bolton Center for Veterinary Medicine, is a historic estate located in East Marlborough Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. The original section of the house was built in 1717, and expanded in the 19th century. In 1940, it was modernized and enlarged by architect

R. Brognard Okie Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875-1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial Revival architecture, Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings. Biography Okie was born in Camden, New Jersey, ...

in the Colonial Revival style. Also on the property are a former stable or

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open f ...

transformed into a cottage and photographic studio; an English

bank barn A bank barn or banked barn is a style of barn noted for its accessibility, at ground level, on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one are ...

; early 20th century

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

silo A silo (from the Greek σιρός – ''siros'', "pit for holding grain") is a structure for storing bulk materials. Silos are used in agriculture to store fermented feed known as silage, not to be confused with a grain bin, which is used t ...

; and one-story garage (1940). ''Note:'' This includes It was originally built as the retirement residence of Caleb Pusey (c. 1650–1727), an associate of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

and

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

leader. The farm remained in the Pusey family until acquired by industrialist Charles A. Higgins (1882-c. 1956) in 1939–1940. He hired architect R. Brognard Okie to transform the property into a gentleman's estate. Since 1958, the house has been the centerpiece of the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary and animal research complex known as the

New Bolton Center New Bolton Center is the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's 700 acre campus in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. It is home to one of the busiest large animal teaching veterinary clinics in the nation. Since 1958, it has been lo ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Colonial Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Houses completed in 1940 Houses in Chester County, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Chester County, Pennsylvania {{ChesterCountyPA-NRHP-stub